Battle for your friends
by Derrin
Summary: Story of loss, as the name implies. Jimmy, a young adult, is ordinary, as it goes. Working at wal-mart, going to strip clubs, the usual stuff. But, with the war in Syria raging on, a soldier brings back a man-made disease that turns people into blood thirsty beasts. Can Jimmy lead his friends to safety, or let all of his family in bond die?
1. Chapter 1

**_Chapter 1: Pilot_**

"Air support, Air support! DAMMIT! My mag's empty, cover me!"

"YOU'RE COVERED!"

"They're all over us! Where the hell is the missile?"

"NO! I'm down. It's over, grenade got me, and I'm bleeding out."

I set the black and chrome Xbox One controller down. Noah and I were playing Call of Duty on a chilly winter day, December 17th 2015.

"Damn, Jimmy, what happened? I thought you had that."

"I did. Well, until they flooded me with suicidal mutts and M-67 hand grenades."

Let's get a few things out of the way. My name is Jimmy Anderson; I'm 24 years old, my eyes are a sea-green type color, I guess, and my hair is short-ish in the back but I have long bangs covering my left eye. I'm not exactly the most changing man you'd meet on the street.

I'm working at a Wal-Mart with my friend Noah Ride –who just turned 23, and had short hair- and we have two days off work: Sunday and Monday.

My other friends, Isaiah Ride -age 22 looked like a hockey player with short hair-, and Zack Fisher -also age 24, had a buzz cut- were deployed, doing god-knows-what in Syria. Anyway, Noah and I spare every free second playing Call of Duty and messing around.

"Hey, Jimmy? Let's check FOX. See any news on Syria's recent activities."

I stretched my arms straight up and propped my feet on the granite coffee table. "Okay. I bet nothins' changed though."

He turned the channel to FOX news and we were met by a blonde, curly haired news-woman.

"…-nd a recent string of disappearances in Meridian has police on high alert. Phil, any news on Syria's recent mysterious outbreak of the strange new disease?"

The brown-headed news-man responded, "Yes, Sue, actually we have three U.S. Marines talking about it today. Riccardo? Is the live feed up?"

"Yes, sir. We now have contact with Sergeant Brian O'Leary, Private Isaiah Ride, and Corporal Zack Fisher." A Hispanic man replied.

The screen flickered to a man in his twenties, brown hair, icy-blue eyes, and a scar on his chin. "Whoa," I said. "That was convenient. We didn't even have to wait through some bullshit news." Noah nodded.

"Hey, is this on?" The man asked. Isaiah and Zack were visible in the background. "Okay. I'm Sergeant Brian O'Leary. The U.S. military has little Intel about this outbreak of what we now named the 'TGP-5' virus, or 'The Ghost Plague_'_. Corporal Bounds here will be explaining a little more."

Zack walked up to the camera, Brian backing off. "Thank you, sir. The symptoms are: high fever of up to even 150 degrees, incredible violence, bloody diarrhea, vomiting blood, coughing blood, dementia, and death. There _is _more but that's classified." Brian grabbed Zack's shoulder and pulled him back, mumbling something about causing a panic.

Then, Brian said, "The rest of the information is classified. Now, if you excuse us, we have to get back to patrol." And with that, the camera went off.

"Well that was revealing, wasn't it? We will have more information on TGP-5 soon. Now to Bill with the spor-…" Noah turned it off. "Hey," He said. "At least they're home in a month."

January 15th, 2016 1:57AM

Brian O'Leary was finally home. He was in action in Syria for five years, the whole time the war was spanned. He didn't come home alone. Zack Fisher and Isaiah Ride came with him. Turns out, they lived 24 miles or so apart.

"Thanks for the ride, Zack." He said.

"Anytime, Sir." Zack replied.

"C'mon man. Call me Brian."

"Okay. Later, Brian" He said, driving off.

Brian walked through the town of Philadelphia, Mississippi. He walked past Hardy's when he noticed something strange. Over near Wal-Mart, a woman was screaming and running. A strange sight at 2:00AM. A man was chasing her. He eventually caught up and tackled her and pinned her on the ground, knees on chest.

"What the-, HEY!" Brian yelled, dropping his stuff and running towards the man and woman. When Brian got close it was too late. The man had mauled her. Using his TEETH.

"What the fuck? Is that TGP-5?!" The man looked up at Brian and got off the woman's corpse. Slowly he walked towards Brian. Brian slowly drew his karambit knife from his belt. "Man, what are you doing? Dude?" The man charged, and Brian grabbed the back of his head, slammed him on the ground, and then stabbed the man in the back of the neck. The man still squirmed under Brian, even though his spinal column was severed.

"Holy fucking shit." Brian stepped back and watched the man get back up. "We're in trouble."

January 16th, 2016 12:24PM

I heard a knock at the door and ran to answer it. Zack and Isaiah were at the door. "Guys!" I yelled. I let them in.

"How was action in Syria?" Noah asked.

His brother Isaiah responded. "Same old, same old. Just a bunch of patrols and stuff."

We walked into the kitchen. "Hey, Jimmy?" Zack said. "I've been gone for two years. Did you trade in any of my games?"

I laughed. "Uh… just three." Zack laughed too.

"Hey, how 'bout I go cook up some ramen, eh?" Noah offered.

"Heck yeah! Thanks man!" Isaiah and Zack shouted at the same time. As Noah went into the kitchen, I went to the mini fridge in the corner to grab a Budweiser.

While we made small talk about how life was, Noah walked back in. "Hey, guys? We're out of Ramen noodles. Anyone want to volunteer to go get some more?" He asked.

"I just got back." Zack noted, as if just noticing it.

"Same here." Isaiah mentioned.

"Yeah, I'm just too lazy." I said, dully.

"Ugh… I'll be back." Noah grabbed his grey Under Armour coat and walked out the door.

12:48PM

Noah was walking to Wal-Mart. He was completely bored out of his mind. Every time a vehicle drove past him it seemed to be trying to soak him.

He took the right into Wal-Mart's parking lot where he saw the police and an ambulance. And being loaded INTO the ambulance was a body, covered by a sheet. As the gurney went up to fit into the ambulance, the sheet caught on something and got pulled off. Under the sheet was a woman who had the flesh ripped off from the bottom lip down. At this site Noah vomited.

When he looked back up, he saw another body, this one was exposed though, so Noah saw every little detail. From the knife wound in the neck, to the head wound and the several knife wounds to the chest.

"Oh my go-…" Noah vomited again. Then he noticed the other man observing the scene.

He had long brown hair, in his twenties –maybe 25- he had icy blue and stubble around his upper and lower lips reaching his non-existent sideburns. He had red stains over his shirt and Noah seemed to recognize him from somewhere.

"I gotta get out of here." Noah ran into Wal-Mart, bought the Ramen noodles, and ran all the way home.

1:13PM

"That sounds like TGP-5 all right." Isaiah noted.

Noah was holding a bucket on the couch, moaning and squeezing his eyes shut. He had just gotten back from Wal-Mart and had changed into a button-up collared shirt and jeans. He described what he saw to me, Isaiah, and Zack. I looked at Zack and Isaiah.

"If this thing is spreading," Isaiah stated. "Then we could have a serious epidemic on our hands."

"Yeah, Isaiah is right. Hey, Noah. The guy you saw with the blood stains. He has a scar on his chin?" Zack asked.

Noah nodded then threw up again.

Zack looked at Isaiah. "Brian?"

Isaiah nodded. "Let's go see if he's ok. You drive, Zack."

I glared at Isaiah. "We're coming too."

"YOU HAD A CAR," Noah shouted. "AND MADE ME WALK TO TOWN?! I mean, it's only a few blocks away, BUT STILL!" His voice squeaked a bit at the end.

Zack snickered. "Sorry. Let's go." And with that, we went outside and loaded up into the F250. Zack and I in front, Isaiah and Noah in back.

I asked, "So where exactly are we going, Zack?"

"Brian lives somewhere in Philly, right? He said something about staying with a friend in a trailer near the highway. Music, anyone?" Zack pressed a button and started playing _Burn it down_ by Avenged Sevenfold as he went 72 MPH down the road.

_Alright_, I thought._ Great. There have to be at least fifty trailers near the highway._

Oh, how I was wrong.

1:34PM

We got to the only highway _within _a fifty mile radius and there were at least nine trailers all the way down. We stopped at six with no luck. A storm started brewing after the third trailer. It started raining at the fifth. At the sixth, it was like the sky turned the ocean over our heads.

_The seventh trailer. Zack and Isaiah must really like this guy…_ I thought as we arrived at a rather large trailer, painted white and red. White trailer, red door and windowsills.

"Okay," Isaiah started. "Who would like to walk through the pouring rain and ask for a man who may or may not be here?"

"Uh, I guess I will." I said.

Noah snickered. "Have fun, Jimmy."

I put on my black/gray jacket and threw over my hood and took off toward the trailer.

Up the trailer's steps.

To the door.

Knock on the door.

I waited in the storm until a man with curly brown hair and a blonde woman opened up. Let's just say, things were kind of awkward for me. They both looked like they were in their mid-twenties. The man had nothing but boxers on, and the woman was wearing a bath robe

"Uh, hey," I started. "Do y'all know a man named Brian O'Leary?"

"Yeah, man." Said the blonde. "He's in the back room. Is Brian in trouble?"

"Oh. No, no, no. I've got a couple of his buddies who were worried 'bout him." I stated.

"Lemme' just call him," Said the man. "BRIAN!"

"Yeah?" Yelled a voice from the back.

"Someone's here to see ya!"

I heard footsteps approaching the front of the house through the hallway, which had several pictures hung up, Then, the same man as I saw on TV walked into the room.

"Can I help you?" Brian asked.

"Uh, y-yeah." I stammered. This guy scared me. It wasn't his appearance but the aura he radiated, like raw hatred towards the world. "Zack Fisher and Isaiah Ride wanna see you."

"Zak-Attack and The Ice-cube, eh? Invite 'em in. That Okay, Johnny?"

Johnny nodded. "C'mon, Jess." They walked back to their room, hopefully to get some clothes on.

I waved the guys in.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Chapter 2: We save a child_**

4:47PM

"Breaking news. In the city of Jackson, Mississippi, a series of mauling's have been going on. It is believed that the soldiers from Syria are carrying the Syrian plague 'TGP-5' over to the America's.

"There seem to be riots in the city. So far there have been _one-hundred _and _twenty-_three casualties. It is advised to keep your doors and windows locked at all time-…" She was cut off by a slam on the door of the station.

"W-what was that?" She asked. She was answered by the slam of many more loud bangs. There was a sick _CRACK_ and _BANG_ as the door flew off the hinges.

"Holy shit!" The cameraman yelled. Then there was a scream as someone-or some_thing-_ tackled the newswoman. She screamed in agony, though we weren't sure what was happening, because they were behind an oak wood counter. We could only see her feet thrashing from behind the counter. Then blood flowed.

The cameraman said, "Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod." Repeatedly, then screamed as the monster that killed the newswoman stood up. There were many growls and moans as the cameraman got tackled from behind, rotating the camera enough to reveal the door and about thirty-eight people coming through it.

Johnny shut off the 48 inch flat-screen television. "Oh, shit. That's enough of that."

Brian was leaned up against a white wall staring at the TV screen. "This ain't good. If TGP-5 is spreading, it'll get all over the country. There is no way in hell people will have enough ammo and weapons to survive. Unless they're like me."

Noah looked at him nervously. "Like you?"

Brian grinned. So did Johnny and Kate.

"Well," Kate said. "Brian suspected this might happen—."

"Guilty." Brian said.

"—and he mighta' sorta' bought a shit-load 'o guns." Jess finished.

Noah, Isaiah, Zack, and I glanced quickly at each other.

"Like what kinda guns?" Noah asked.

"Oh, you know." Brian said. "Just a few pistols and rifles. Like, two Glock 17s, a Glock 20, three 44. Magnums, a Shotgun, SPAS-12 to be exact, and… uh, I actually forgot the name of the last two rifles. They're Russian, a variable-zoom scope rifle and an ACOG-sight assault rifle."

Everyone stared at Brian. The room itself seemed to be solely focused on Brian. I felt something rub against my feet and nearly jumped out of my skin. I looked down and saw a ginger cat rubbing up on me.

"What?" He said. "They're expensive. Anyway I haven't planned ahead of that."

OK. Wow. I know what you're probably thinking. 'Oh, well this story is gonna end with hugs, kisses, and a magical unicorn running over a pretty rainbow.' Well, we'll just see about that, won't we?

Back to the story.

"Ok. Anyway I don't think sitting in a trailer'd be the best form of defense. But, uh, just a thought… Why not head to, like, the empire state building or something?" Asked Johnny.

"Uh," Zack started. "how 'bout a _Dead Rising_ type thing. Head to a mall, hold up there?"

"How about not?" Brian responded. "A little more tactical, please?"

"How about this?" Noah started. "We get a bus, a robot driver, four bus stops, and defend the bus dash bus stops?"

"A little less _Call of Duty _please?" I said.

"Ok," Brian said. "We'll get to Camp Shelby."

"Uh, that place is for, like, what, criminals under the age of eight-teen, right?" I asked.

"No," Brian replied. "Well, sort of, actually. Ever since the terrorist attacks, back in '14, all military bases, including Camp Shelby, have been turned into full-fledged war bases. Reinforced titanium gates, shit-load of mounted MGs on all corners, probably an armory. We'll hold out there."

"Yeah, one problem." Zack said. "That's a four hour trip. How will we ge-…"

Zack was cut off by a blood-curdling scream coming from outside.

I peeked out the window. Out in the storm there was a young child running. Behind him a woman was chasing him. There was something wrong with the woman though. Every time her jacket shifted as she ran, large spots of blood became visible.

_Oh, SHIT! _I thought.

Then the worse thing I've ever seen happened. The boy tripped over something and went sprawling into a ditch.

"OH, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" I yelled. I ran over to the door and picked up an old fashioned Xbox 360 off of the night stand beside the recliner and darted out the door into the storm as others got up and looked out the window I was already almost to the little boy.

I approached the child just as the woman jumped on him. Right before she could so any damage ASIDE from curse the poor boy to twenty years of therapy, I put all my strength into one powerful swing with the Xbox. It met her skull with a sickening _crunch._

The boy looked up at me. He couldn't have been more than eight, his curly black hair was streaked with mud from the ditch, and he had tears streaming down his face.

"You ok, buddy?" I asked as Brian, Noah and the others approached.

The boy just kept bawling. He was stuttering something that sounded like, "_Mommy! M-Mommy!"_

Zack picked the boy up. "Where is your Dad, kiddo?" He asked.

"Damn, Jimmy." Isaiah mumbled into my ear. "I didn't know ya had that in you." I let out a nervous chuckle.

The kid pointed back at the house he came from. About forty yards away, in the doorway of a completely white trailer stood the dark silhouette of a man. Something was wrong with HIM to.

"Kid!" Brian barked. "Was your Dad in the military?"

He sobbed something then nodded.

_Son of a BITCH!_ I thought. I realized the man's problem. Where his left arm should have been, there was nothing but sharp bone and stringy muscle and cartilage. He started approaching. The Xbox in my hand was shattered in half, shards of plastic were visible-AND sharp, there were also pieces of some kind of tech sticking out, making it heavier, and probably harder.

"Jess!" Johnny shouted. "Get inside!"

"Wait, Jess!" I shouted. "Take the kid." Zack handed her the kid as she darted into the trailer.

Just then the man started running, no, more like a half-sprint, half-limp.

Adrenaline rushed through me. My vision turned an angry shade of red. I charged the man head-on, the deadly video game system in my hands, but as I came up to the guy and swung the Xbox, he growled, ducked the swing (or more likely stumbled), and tackled me.

The Xbox slid from my hands as I barely held the guy back.

"Jimmy!" I heard several of my friends yell. The guy was so close I could smell his foul body odor. Or was that his arm?

Just then, his only hand found its way to my neck. My breath seeped out, I couldn't breathe. I started seeing spots. How long was it since my last breath? A _minute? TWO? _That's it. I was going to die in a dimly lit yard in the pouring rain.

Just as I thought my life was over, I saw a flying Nike running shoe fly through the air and catch the man in the jaw and sent him sprawling away. That _had _to have broken his neck. Attached to the shoe was Noah.

Noah extended his hand. "You ok?" He asked.

I accepted his hand and got up, rubbing my neck. "Yeah, I guess. Fucker almost had me though."

The others approached. Isaiah and Johnny were wide-eyed and Zack looked grim. Brian had an odd look on his face. Humor, maybe?

"That," Zack commented, "Was a ballsy move, Jimmy. You almost got killed!"

"I had to help that kid!"

"Dude," Brian said. "_that _was a badass move. The way you used a _video game system _as a club? Genius." We fist-bumped.

I heard movement behind me. All eyes went to the dead man, who was now shuffling. His neck was bent at an unnatural angle, yet he was stirring.

"Allow me." Brian offered. He walked up to the struggling corpse and raised his foot up. I looked away, but still heard the sickening crunches of boot against skull echoing into the night, almost simultaneously with the thunder.


	3. Chapter 3

**_Chapter 3: We take a highway through hell_**

"Johnny are you sure you don't wanna come?"

It was 6:00PM and Johnny said he and Jess were going to stay. Brian obviously didn't want that.

"Yes, Brian. We're going to the shipyard. We'll hijack one of the boats and stay at sea 'till all this shit blows over." Johnny replied.

Zack and I were emptying out the toolbox in the back of the truck to make room for Brian's guns. Noah was carrying a scoped rifle over his shoulder and another rifle with a sight on it in his hands. Isaiah was carrying a shotgun in his arms and two revolvers on his belt, and Brian carried two glocks on his belt and one in his hand. The one in Brian's hand had a larger clip than the others.

Brian gave us each a single gun. Guess he actually trusts us.

"Alright," He said. "I'm going to give you each a side-arm. No complaining."

I got one of the three 44. Magnums, Noah had one Glock 17, Isaiah had the Glock 20, Brian had the other Glock 17, and Zack had another revolver. The other guns were put into the tool box in the back of the truck.

We were leaving the child (whose name is actually Matthew) with Jess and Johnny.

"Guys," I said, "small problem. There are only four seats. Five of us."

"I'll get in back, guys." Zack volunteered. "Keep 'em off of us, in case there are any on the highway."

"Zack," Brian said, "are you sure?"

"Pfft, yeah man. I'm the best shot." He gloated.

"Ok, guys." Johnny said. "Good luck. If _anyone_ can survive it's you, Brian."

"Thanks, Johnny." Brian replied. "Goodbye and good luck, brother."

Brian and Johnny clasped hands and patted each other's back. Jess gave Brian a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"You guys sure y'all don't need a gun?" Brian offered.

"Naw, dude." Johnny replied. "I have a 22. and a snub-nosed 44. We'll be ok."

Brian smiled. "Alright. Load up, boys!"

"Jimmy?" Zack waved me over. "Here ya go." He slapped something into my hand.

_CAR KEYS?!_

"Uh, Zack?" I asked.

"Hmm?"

"These are keys."

"Yeah. You're driving." He said nonchalantly.

"I don't even have my license!"

He laughed. "Yeah, like that matters."

"You're trusting me with all of our lives."

"Yup, mine mostly." He checked the clip in the rifle then cocked the gun. "Try not to get me killed, right?"

"Uh…"

Zack took a knee in the back of the truck. Brian and Noah got in the back passenger seats, and Isaiah got in the front passenger seat.

_Ok, Jimmy._ I thought. _Deep breaths._

I got into the driver's seat, put the key into ignition, and started the engine. Johnny and Jess waved one last farewell and then took off towards the convertible at the side of the house, Jess with Matthew in her arms.

We hit the highway. Brian, Noah, and Isaiah were staring out of their windows grimly.

"Ugh! It's too damn depressing. Let's turn the music on." I said, clicking the radio's _on _button. _Highway to hell_ by AC-DC started playing. Isaiah's frown started turning upside down. In no time we were singing with the band.

_All my friends are gonna be their too._

We turned out of the dirt road, onto the highway, and started our long journey to Jackson. Then, after Jackson, our hope, our salvation.

_I'm on a HIGHWAY TO HELL!_

As soon as we hit the highway, I started from 40 to 75 miles-per-hour. I immediately saw the difference in the highway since last time I saw it.

There was fire at many of the houses, there was a lot of gunfire, and there were people running around screaming: complete and utter carnage.

I heard closer gunfire. _Too_ close.

In the rearview mirror, I saw Zack. Zack was on a knee, firing and firing fast. He shifted sides of the truck several time.

"JIMMY!" I turned my focus back to the road a millisecond too late.

In the middle of the road was an infected woman ripping into a man's stomach.

"SHIT!" I yelled. I swerved the truck to the left, into a ditch, and onto the other side of the highway. This side was worse. It was littered with the corpses of humans and vehicles alike.

"Zack?" I yelled, slowing to 46 MPH.

"I'm good." He replied, pulling himself up back into the truck.

"Guys?" I asked.

"I hit my head, but I'm ok." Noah replied.

Brian was silent. "I think Brian hit his head a little harder though. Let me check his pulse. Yeah, He's alive." Noah said in Brian's stead.

"Guess Jimmy and I are the only ones not dinged up. Keep driving, Jimmy!" Isaiah said.

I maneuvered the fat-assed vehicle through the chaos and destruction, weaving my way between wrecked trucks, drifting around cars in the middle of the road, and dodging the many dead bodies.

Then, every new driver's worse nightmare came true. In the distance, there was an eighteen-wheeler barreling towards us. It was an Optimus Prime-looking truck, with a wooden board on the front, which seemed to have nails sticking out of the front. There seemed to be an infected man impaled by the chest, struggling to get out of his sharp prison.

We were both barreling toward each other, both going between 75 and 95 MPH.

"Jimmy?" Zack yelled. "I hope you know what you're doing!"

"Yup!" I yelled back. "I have no idea!"

_200 yards_

_150_

"Jimmy!" Isaiah and Noah shouted simultaneously.

I swerved to the right, narrowly dodging a fiery death. Although, I didn't seem to think things through.

Over the cries of my friends, I drove dead into a field of vehicle carcasses. Trucks, cars, Jeeps, and Fords. You name it. I barely dodged an upside-down Mercedes by swerving to the left and then driving through inferno created by oil between a sideways eighteen-wheeler and blown-up Jeep Wrangler.

As I kept maneuvering my way through the field and Zack kept burning through his rounds, about half a mile ahead of us another explosion happened. On both roads, though.

_Just my luck. _I thought. _Cars blocking the roads._

"Jimmy, stop!" Zack yelled. "Ya can't make it!"

"If I stop, these bastards'll catch us!" I yelled back. It was true. A distance behind us a huge crowd of infected swarmed, sprinting towards us.

If I stop, chances are we'll die. If I keep going, we'd have a small chance. So I did the smart thing. I put the pedal to the metal and charged towards the flames.

Well, let's just say it wasn't my best idea.

As I came up towards the inferno, I saw the silhouettes of several wrecked vehicles in my path.

"JIMMY!" Zack screamed.

There was a Mustang flipped upside down, forming a make-shift ramp over the debris.

"Jimmy, do _not _try it!" Noah yelled.

Well… I tried it.

I hit the ramp, the shock sending a wave up my spine and making my gut feel upside down. As we flew through the air, I heard Zack scream, "JIMMY! You BASTARD!"

We hit the ground hard, bouncing twice. I heard Zack laugh like a psychopath, Noah was groaning and breathing heavily, Isaiah just looked stunned, and Brian was out cold.

For a moment, everything was alright. We laughed and were glad to still be alive. But then, my luck caught up to me. As dusk closed in, it silhouetted many things, such as a bloated body in the middle of the road. I should have been more observant. The body passed under the right wheels of the truck, I heard my friends yell, and Brian moan.

We just hung there for a second, tilted on our left wheels and all of us screaming. Then the truck slammed on the side. As soon as the truck made contact with the ground, everything went dark and I lost consciousness.


	4. Chapter 4

**_Chapter 4: It's shoot 'em up time!_**

6:37PM

_This is just like back in Syria. _Zack thought.

He didn't even know how he was still alive. When the truck fell, he thought it was the end. It wasn't. As it fell to the ground, he jumped to the right, hitting the ground hard on his left shoulder.

He had burned through most of the rifle's clips, leaving him with about 3 clips left, all with eight bullets.

"Guys?" He croaked. "Respond!"

Zack looked at the sideways F250. Climbing out of the sky-light window was Noah, pulling an unconscious Brian out. Climbing out the right-side passenger window was Isaiah, pulling Jimmy out.

"I'm good." Isaiah said. He looked ok, though he had a nasty gash on his left cheek; he had blood streaming down to his shirt. "Jimmy's hurt pretty bad though."

"Yeah, I think I'm in a lil' trouble here." Noah moaned. Zack would have said a little more than _lil'_. Noah had blood caking his face; he had a nasty cut on his stomach and right shoulder. He was losing blood fast, and the rain was only helping get dirt out of the wound.

"Noah, watch Brian and Jimmy. Cover Isaiah and me." Zack yelled as the infected horde grew closer. "Isaiah? Can you still hotwire vehicles?"

"Uh, that depends!" Isaiah shouted over the horde. "If it's below a 2006 model!"

Zack pointed to a red '70s Chevy Caprice behind him. It seemed to be in good condition, save for the fact the driver's side door was open and a blood trail led off into the ditch from the seat. And Zack did _not _want to see what's in the ditch.

"On it!" Isaiah shouted, darting off towards the Chevy just as the first wave of infected climbed over the wreckage. It was just a few, about six or seven. Jeez. Zack remembered how hard it was taking a life for the first time. It was a sniper in the top of a building that was aiming at the sergeant. Zack saw the red laser pretty dang fast. That moment before he pulled the trigger. The moment he _did _pull the trigger. Brian radioing in to thank him.

Zack looked at the first target. A male, about seventeen or eighteen. He was missing an arm and had a huge hole in his stomach.

_BANG!_

Target dropped. Next in line was a female. It was hard to tell how old she was because from her left eye to her chin her face was ripped off.

_BANG!_

Second one down. It went on and on until he dropped the last one. But after he nailed the seventh guy, he could hear the horde loud and clear. The noise, the stench, and the blood. Zack ejected his current clip. He had a single bullet left in it, and he doubted he'd have enough time to reload if they were tearing him to shreds.

More of the infected came over the wall. About ten this time.

_Great, _Zack thought. _Hope my Magnum's ready._

Eight shots plus six. Seemed like a fair deal. He popped three from his right, turned quickly to his left and nailed four, and then shot his final shot into an infected woman's left eye. The last two had made it over the wall and were charging him now. He ejected his clip in his rifle with his right hand, and slung his left hand to the revolver on his belt. The young infected male was already about four feet in front of him.

Zack brought the revolver up and rammed it into the guy's mouth, shattering his teeth in the process, pulled back the hammer, and then pulled the trigger. The last one, an old infected man, was not too close. Not too far though either. Zack pulled back the hammer and let the bullet fly right between the man's eyes.

"Noah!" Zack shouted over the horde. "Prep that assault rifle! Isaiah, hurry the fuck up!"

"G-Got it." Noah said weakly.

"Working on it!" Isaiah screamed.

Zack turned around and was met by an old woman in the air half a foot away from him. Just before the woman landed on him, her head jerked violently to the left, and instead of tackling Zack, she just knocked him over. He threw the woman's corpse off of him and looked at Noah, who had a smoking Glock 17 in his hand. Noah nodded and tossed the assault rifle to Zack. Zack cocked it and started firing.

_One, two, three…_

_Eight, nine, ten…_

They just kept coming. All of a sudden an engine roared to life behind Zack.

"Noah, if you have _any _strength left, carry Jimmy to that red Chevy behind me!" Zack screamed. Now it was as if a dam had broken and it was flooding infected people. Zack kept firing, reloading, and firing some more. Zack risked a glance behind. Noah had just loaded Jimmy up into the back seat of the Chevy and Isaiah was revving the engine.

Zack backed up towards Brian, never stopping the fire, and grabbed Brian's shirt's collar and dragged him towards the Chevy. But then the shooting stopped. He already had the scoped rifle over his shoulder and his revolver on his belt, he _had _to keep this assault rifle. It might save him or another one of them soon. He threw Brian over his shoulder and dived into the backseat of the car. He landed on the unconscious Jimmy.

Jimmy let out a small moan, and then went quite again.

"DRIVE, DRIVE, DRIVE!" Zack screamed at the top of his lunges. Isaiah slammed the peddle to the metal and they were leaving the horde that was just a three yards behind. Zack sat up, sitting Brian on the left side. Zack was sitting between two unconscious people. Yay.

"Noah? Are you ok?" Zack asked. Isaiah kept glancing at his brother with concern.

"Y-Yeah. I'm fine. Need some medical shit though." Noah was pressing his jacket against his wound. He looked anything but fine. His face was pale, his eyes were sunk into his head, and he was bleeding badly.

"Yeah, you're right." Isaiah said. "Brian and Jimmy do too. Hey, what about RUSH Hospital? It's 'bout eight miles from here."

"Yeah, good idea, Isaiah. Go there. I think Jimmy's starting to come to." Zack said. Jimmy was stirring, alright. He shifted and moaned. The cut on his forehead seemed to be healing, as it had already stopped bleeding.

"Pie… need some pie…" He moaned.

"Yup, he's still Jimmy. Brian's still out cold, though." Zack said.

"Guys," Isaiah said grimly. "We're almost out of gas."

_Time: Unknown_

_Location: Somewhere near a river_

Brian's eyes fluttered open as he awoke with a gasp.

_Where am I? _He thought. _Where are the guys?_

He looked to his left. There were dense woods that way. He looked to his right. There was a river, clear and seemingly cool, and across the river were more dense woods.

Brian stood up. He looked to his left. Hey, left is lucky. Right? He walked that way, until he couldn't see the river anymore. He looked forward. There was a clearing. Maybe that would be where the highway they were on is. He broke into a sprint, but when he broke out into the clearing he went with a shock.

He was back at the river.

"Where the fuck am I?!" He screamed.

_Purgatory…_

Brian felt a chill run down his spine. He spun around, but no one was there.

_Do you know why you're here, Brian?_

Brian did a 360, yet, still no sign of anyone. "Who are you? How do you know my name?" Brian asked calmly.

_My name? Oh, people call me many things. Ha-ha, many things indeed._

"Answer the question!" Brian shouted.

_I have many names. Nostalgia, the peace-maker, revenge… but really, I appear at the end of people's lives to help them. I shall make you realize the error of your ways._

Brian just stood there, staring at the river.

"I get it." He exclaimed. "Am I here because of the things I've done? The _bad things_? Am I stuck here 'till I see the error of my ways, until I repent? Well you're going to have to wait a long time! Because I don't regret a damn thing! And if you're gonna kill me, kill me! Right here, right now! I'm not afraid to die, but I'll go out swingin'!"

_Very well. I shall force you to repent!_

There was a large rumbling, like the aftershock of an earthquake, and all around Brian, hands started bursting out of the ground. He checked his belt. Good. Turns out dying doesn't take your stuff. He still had his Karambit knife and Glock 17. He took out his knife and stood ready. If he was dying, he was dying _his_ way. All around him, corpses sporting slit throats and gunshot wounds stood. Slowly they stumbled towards him; he would take them out one by one.

But they kept getting back up.

But then again, he kept stabbing. And he wouldn't ever quit until he was overwhelmed. Which was going to be soon.

_Do you repent?_

"Keep dreaming, Fucker!" Brian taunted as he tore through the crowd of swinging hands and snapping jaws.

"C'mon!" He yelled. "It's one against one-_hundred!_ KILL ME!"

He pulled out his gun and started firing. As he disappeared under the horde, he kept stabbing and shooting.

Then, as everything went black, he opened his eyes again to see the concerned faces of Jimmy, Isaiah, Noah, and Zack. They were in a different vehicle in the parking lot of RUSH Hospital.

7:03PM

I sighed deeply when Brian woke up. We couldn't lose him, not yet. I woke up on the road. Oh, the shock and humor I felt when I woke up in the convertible Chevy at a gas station. We pulled up a few minutes ago, but we were too worried about Brian to go anywhere at the time. He was shaking fiercely and mumbling stuff about repenting.

"We're here to get supplies." I told him. "Are you ok? You were shaking pretty hard."

"I'm fine. Ugh, just a headache. Hey, guys, I have an idea. Do we have any items that are hollow and made of metal?" Brian asked, masking obvious pain.

"Uh, I found a deactivated M67 grenade. That count?" Zack asked.

"Yeah, gimme it!" Brian exclaimed. He took the grenade from Zack's hands. "Where's our ammo? And our guns?" He asked.

"I… I lost them when I wrecked the truck." I said bitterly.

Noah opened his jacket, smiling, revealing every one of our guns, his wound, and most of our ammo. Needless to say, I was impressed.

"You slick bastard!" Zack said. "You must'a gotten those when you were getting the assault rifle ready."

"Yeah, it hurt, but it was wor-…" Noah was cut off by something that sounded like a gunshot coming from the hospital.

"Ok, gimme three bullets from the 44. Magnum ammo box. I better make this fast." Brian took the bullets and broke them open, getting the gunpowder. He poured the gunpowder into the grenade, grabbed some glue and yarn (don't ask me _what_ the previous owners of this vehicle had glue and yarn for), and made a homemade grenade.

"Where'd you learn to make that?" I asked, shocked at Brian's ingenuity.

"_Grand Theft Auto 6._" He responded, tossing the grenade and a Zippo to Zack. "You found the grenade, you get it. Take this lighter, light it when you need to."

"Will do." Zack said, pocketing the grenade and lighter. "We ready?"

I took a look at my friends. Noah looked like hell, pale and looking like one of the infected, but we couldn't just leave him here alone. Isaiah and Zack had a few gashes but otherwise looked fine. Brian and I had gashes on our foreheads, but head wounds always bleed a lot (so says Brian, anyway).

"Alright. Let's get those god-forsaken supplies." I said, a lot more confidently then I was.

The inside of the hospital smelled of death, decay, and looked like a bunch of sick, crazy, blood-thirsty humans rampaged in and destroyed it. How ironic.

There were gurneys here and there, tipped over, upside down, or still standing, a few had bodies still strapped to them. The floor was littered with corpses; most were either torn apart or ripped open. Very few were in one piece. There was blood everywhere.

_'__BOOM!'_

Another gunshot. Whatever was happening up there was taking it's time.

We moved across the room to the map, stepping over dead bodies. The map said that medical supplies were on the eighth floor. No words were spoken, just nervous glances towards one another.

We advanced up to the stairway. Apparently, we weren't the first to have the idea. The stairway was littered with bodies, making it as hard as walking through a concentration camp's body pits. Some were still alive, only by some strange miracle, or cruel act of God. All of the people that were living said stuff like,

"Go, run while you can." or, "Help me, please. Just patch me up."

We just left them be. We climbed and climbed and climbed some more.

When we reached the second floor entry, another gunshot sounded, but closer and higher this time. The gunshots meant that people were here. I just realized that. But, then again, it also meant more infected. We heard groaning on the other side of the door, so we went higher.

"Hey guys?" I said while we advanced up the staircase. "We need to think up a nickname for the infected. I'm getting tired of saying 'the infected'."

"How about Zack?" Noah volunteered.

"Hey!" Zack said defensively.

"How about Zombies?" Brian said dully. "That's basically what they are."

"How 'bout Ghosts?" I asked. The 'Ghost' Plague."

"Let's go with Ghosts." Zack insisted.

"Ghosts." Everyone agreed.

We approached the fifth level entry. The gunshot sounded again and we heard a yell.

"Stay away, you slimy, undead bastards!" It was a Russian accent.

We burst through the door to find a heavily armored man with a Colt M1911, shooting down a couple Ghosts at a time.

"Hey!" Brian yelled. "we're here to help!"

"Well I suppose you had better start, yeah?!" He yelled back, stabbing a ghost, and then shooting another.

Together, we mowed down the miniature horde. One by one, ghost dropped until there was one left. He was standing by a big window.

"Good job, my friends!" Said the Russian. He pointed his gun at the ghost without looking and shot. The bullet went through the middle of the ghost's neck and out of the window. The ghost was knocked through the now-shattered window, plummeting to his second death about five stories down.

"What's your name?" Zack asked.

"Viktor Ivanovich, at your service." He said, removing the helmet from his heavily armored body. His face was heavily scarred, his eyes were sunk in, his nose was twisted at an odd angle, and he was missing his right ear.

"Nice to meet ya, Viktor. I'm Zack; this is Jimmy, Noah, Isaiah, and Brian." Zack said, gesturing to each of us.

"A pleasure." Viktor said, nodding.

"Hey, Viktor?" Brian asked. "Where'd you get the juggernaut get-up?"

"I found it on the corpse of an S.W.A.T. trooper up on the eighth floor. He seemed to have been protecting supplies, but most were destroyed by a grenade he set off. I still have his grenade satchel, see?" Viktor answered, gesturing to his chest where a grenade satchel hung over his shoulder.

"How many are in there?" Noah said weakly.

"Uh, about seven. Are you ok?" Viktor asked, looking genuinely concerned.

"I'm fine." Noah responded. "Just need the medical supplies. Is there even the slightest possibility that there are some still intact?"

"Well, yes. It is a small chance, but _a _chance." Viktor said, turning to Noah. "It won't offend you, asking what your plan is, Jimmy?"

"Noah," Noah corrected, "and we're going to Camp Shelby."

"I'm Jimmy." I said dully. I walked into a room across from us. In it there were a few corpses. I stepped over one and went over to a counter, the started digging through the cabinets as the others picked up conversations with the Russian.

"Please…"

"I drew my 44. and aimed it at the man on the ground beside me. He was missing his left arm and both legs. I knew him.

"James!" I yelled. "I ain't seen you since high school! Oh, shit, brother. You're fucked…"

"Jimmy?" He said. Could he see? "Is that you, Jimmy? Jimmy Anderson?"

I knelt and put my hand on his right shoulder. "James. Yeah, it's me. You… can't see me?"

"No. E-Everything is black." He sobbed. "Please, do me a favor, Jimmy. Two, if you can."

"Anything, brother."

James nodded to his left. "There's a spray paint can somewhere. Write, 'stay out' on the front wall of this place."

"Wh-?"

"Please… D-Don't question why." He sobbed. "And, please. Kill me."

My eyes widened as he put his right hand on my shirt.

"Please. Put me out of my misery."

I put the gun to his head. "James. Rest in peace."

"Thank you." He whispered. I pulled the trigger.

"Jimmy!" I heard Zack yell. Everybody came running in. "What happened?"

"I showed mercy." I said quietly. "Help me find some spray paint."

"Uh, why?" Brian asked.

"It's because it was a dying man's last wish."

I scavenged the room for the spray paint. James and I were good friends back in the day. This was the least I could do for him. I found the spray paint a man's back pocket. It was red. Probably from blood.

"Ok, guys." I said. "Let's go get those damn supplies."

"May I help you get your supplies? You may need them." Viktor said. Why was he being so nice to strangers?

"Sure. We need all the help we can get." Isaiah said.

We advanced over to the doors.


End file.
